Wednesday, March 28, 2012

Guest blogger: Merritt Kirkpatrick of ArcWorks Community Art Center

Founded in March 2011, ArcWorks Community Art Center, located in downtown Peabody, Mass, is an all-inclusive art center. What does that mean? Well, everything we do is for everyone in the community, period. ArcWorks CAC is governed by the Northeast Arc, which provides life-long support for individuals with disabilities. There is a lot of confusion when I mention that to people. Some folks ask if they can still participate in our programs if they do not have a disability (answer: YES!), others just do not even bother asking, confused by what that relationships means.

We are very lucky to have an art gallery, tons of great classes and an amazing gallery shop. In those ventures, we offer the opportunity for artists of all abilities to participate in a myriad of ways, whether it is exhibiting in the gallery, taking or teaching a class, and selling in our lovely shop! Our all-inclusion does not only apply to the individuals Northeast Arc serves, though. It means that young and, well, not so young, can make art together; that people from all walks of life can come in to our art center and discuss the current exhibit, or anything else they desire; that we welcome artisans from all over the North Shore and beyond sell their wares in our shop. Our hope is that when people make or experience art together, that we all find that our differences are not that great.

That being said, I welcome you to sign up for one of our upcoming workshops, to stop in an check out the amazing show we have up until May 5th, Create: the Art and Craft of Boston Handmade, or to pop in to the shop to say hello to our new Gallery Shop Manager, Elise Snow. We are currently working on updating our website, so in the meantime, Facebook is the best way to keep up-to-date on ArcWorks Community Art Center.

If you have any questions about our art center, or about what all-inclusive means, please feel free to contact me, Merritt Kirkpatrick, Director, ArcWorks Community Art Center, at mkirkpatrick@ne-arc.org or 978-531-7146